PostSpring Break Blues
by KTEW
Summary: Modern AU, NOT ABL-verse, mostly OC-establishing, can be tied in with A Freedom Fighter's Christmas. A resonably bitter Bee goes back to school after spring break and catches up with some friends. Some completely insane friends.


"Bee, get up," a voice said, slightly lower than normal volume.

I was being shaken.

"I don't wanna," I grumbled, shoving my head into my pillow.

"Oh, come on, we're gonna be late," he complained, tugging on my arm.

"I don't care!"

I could feel the frustration emanating from him.

"Oh, get up!" He actually pulled me out of bed and dropped me on the floor.

I sat up and glared. "I hate you!"

"I know." He rolled his eyes.

I got up. "I'm not a morning person. Deal with it. Now, if you wanna get to school on time, I suggest you let me get dressed."

He walked out, chuckling lightly.

It was the day after Spring Break. So I was in an even _better_ mood than usual.

I locked the door behind him.

"Damn it, Jet. When will you realize you're not my alarm clock?" I grumbled.

I walked over to my dresser and fished out an ACDC shirt and black cargo pants. I slipped on a pair of gray Converse, switched my earrings for little hoops, stuck my barrettes in, and put on some eyeliner. I officially had half an hour to have breakfast, wash up, and get out of the house. Which wouldn't have been a problem if half the freaking _house_ hadn't gotten up late.

"Excuse me, excuse me," I grumbled, pushing through the mob. It took me about fifteen minutes to gulp down a bowl of cereal and a glass of some kind of juice (I didn't look at the label), another ten to get upstairs, brush my teeth, wash my face, and attempt to brush my hair, and five to organize and get my stuff and get outside.

"Say _nothing_," I said, getting in the boys' truck. I was barely on time and I still looked like I had an afro. "Just drive."

Jet chuckled and hit the gas. Longshot looked at me and raised an eyebrow, smiling.

I glowered. "I have bad hair. It's not like there's anything I can do about it."

(I think it looks cute.) He grinned and ruffled it.

I slapped his hand away, still frowning. "Oh, knock it off."

Ten minutes of staticy radio and failed attempts of fixing my hair later, we got to the torture chamber they call school.

I took a deep breath and stepped down, already dreading the day.

But then, I did get to see the one close friend I didn't live with.

"_Striiiiiiiiiii-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipes_!" a very familiar voice sang.

I looked up from trying to get my backpack to see Toph, in all her ponytailed, spectacled, quirky glory, running toward me. Katara, Aang, Sokka, Suki, Zuko, and Mai were in the background, either arguing, texting, or absorbed in their music.

"Olo, my friend," she said, grinning.

I rolled my eyes, smiling and finally managed to grab my backpack. "It's pronounced "hello"."

She chuckled. "Hello, my friend," she "corrected".

I shook my head, holding back a grin. "Later, boys!" I yelled back in the general direction of the truck.

(Later.)

Jet didn't respond, so I assumed he was _trying_ to get something out of the bed and got stuck. Again.

Toph wound up leading me back to her… pack. I only glanced at Katara. We didn't really get along. Aang gave me that ridiculously bright grin he gives everyone. I smiled back. Sokka turned away. He doesn't like me, but I think he can be pretty funny. Suki smiled – she honestly gets along with everyone, but not in an annoying way. I smiled back. Zuko smiled a little, too. We weren't really friends, but we got along well enough. Mai nodded in my direction. We'd kinda developed a respect for each other.

I realized someone was missing. "Hey, where's–"

I heard a light screech – burning rubber – behind me, and new he was here.

I turned around. Haru's van had just spun in. And judging from the angle and sound I'd just heard, Haru wasn't the one driving.

The owner of the abused vehicle eased the passenger door open and slid out, hunched over and green. "Never again," he managed.

The back door flew open and a certain little boy in an oversized baseball cap jumped out. "Woo! That was awesome!"

"Hey, The Duke," I said, smiling.

He looked up, noticed me, grinned, and said, "Hi, Bee!"

I heard voices still laughing hysterically. The Duke ran around to the trunk, opened it, grabbed a collapsed chair, and ran over to the other side of the car. The laughing died down a bit, and a few seconds later, Teo wheeled around where I could see him. Quill came up behind him, still laughing too hard.

"Hi, boys," I said, laughing, too.

"Dude, that was awesome!" a fifth voice proclaimed, jumping out.

"Uh, Sand?" I said, eyebrow raised.

She shrugged. "Quill offered a ride. And it was freaking AWESOME!" She high-fived the Egyptian-haired boy in question.

"Are you kidding?" Haru said, summoning all his strength into marching up to them. "You almost totaled my van five times! How'd you get a _license_?"

Quill blinked. "Who said anything about a license?"

I couldn't help laughing. Normally Yin drove him everywhere, because he couldn't pass the practical part of the driving test to save his life.

Hey, wait a minute…

"Where's Yin?" I asked.

He looked surprised and started fiddling with his half of their necklace, smiling. "The woman and Flower grabbed a ride with Ty Lee."

I chuckled. "Why do you always call her that?"

"Because I can!" he said for the millionth time.

I shook my head, chuckling.

"I'm still here, you know," Toph said, waving her hand in front of my face.

I turned to her. "And you're not glomping your boyfriend because…?"

She pursed her lips. "You can't glomp someone in a wheelchair." She thought a moment. "But I can try."

I chuckled. Teo looked mildly… terrified. She flung herself at him, but slowed down at the last second so she wound up as close to a normal hug as possible.

He smiled and hugged her back as well as possible.

I heard a reminder bell go off.

"Guys, we're gonna be late," Katara said, looking up from her Blackberry.

I nodded and our probably-too-big group started in.

Seven minutes later I was in homeroom, waiting for the announcements to finish up. Somehow I'd wound up doodling Sand being a dork again.

Granyt slid in next to me. "Hi, Bee!"

I looked up and smiled. "Hello, oh Great Rock." Toph came up with the Rock thing – her and her nicknames; wasn't Granyt enough – and I just added the rest.

She rolled her eyes. "I brought Hei Bai to school." She took out a PillowPanda. She'd named him after some god of… nature?

I raised my eyebrows. "Why?"

She shrugged. "Yin wanted me to."

I shook my head. "Of course she did."

"Hiya!" "the woman"'s voice said, the pansexual sliding up behind me.

"Hi," I said, turning to face her. She was in one of her gothic moods. She had a black rose barrette pinning her Avril Lavigne-esque hair away from her face and was wearing heavy black eyeliner, bright red lipstick, a loose-fitting black long-sleeved shirt, Sand's MCR jacket and black motorcycle gloves, a black and dark purple tutu skirt, Flower's bleached jeans, rolled up just enough to see the ripped fishnet under them, and combat boots.

She flailed, leaning over my desk, until Granyt handed her the panda.

"Why?" I asked the blonde.

"It's adorable and soft," she said, like it should be obvious.

"Uh huh…" I muttered, going back to my sketch.

"What'cha drawing?" they asked at the same time.

I chuckled. "The first time I met Sand."

Yin giggled. "I remember that."

Granyt knitted her eyebrows together. "I never heard about that one."

I was surprised. I could've sworn I'd told everyone about that. "Really?"

She nodded.

"Now you have to tell her," Yin said.

I sighed. Here we go. "So, it was my first day of 9th grade. I somehow didn't have lunch at the same time as anyone I lived with. The only person I knew was Azula. And I knew nothing about her at that point, just that she seemed… unfriendly. But so is Sand. And sometimes Flower. Anyway, so I just kinda started walking in her direction when this voice yells out, "Hey, freshman! Over here!" So I look over and it's that junior, Emily, from gym and bio. I start walking in her direction and see that moody girl who always hangs out with her, Alyssa, looking at her, almost scared. I'm worried, but I knew Azula already didn't like me, so I keep walking. I stop in front of her, put down my lunch tray, and start to ask why she'd called me over, but she grabbed me, started petting my head, and said–" I cut off, anticipating Yin joining in.

I was right.

"'There, there. We have protected you from the evils that are Azula Sozin,'" we said together.

Granyt was giggling. "That was… beautiful."

"And now you sound like my boyfriend," Yin said, finally sitting down.

And then the bell rang.

Yin giggled. "Just my luck."

All that happened in calculus was homework, a Jolly Rancher, and Jin Cooper being yelled at again. Bio was pretty boring. I had to sit next to Song Sanders. Again. She's nice, but too quiet. In Spanish, Flower, Jun Flemmer, and I were in a group for a project. That was pretty fun. In ELA, Ms. Sozin (who's an awesome teacher, by the way) got totally off topic, so, once again, we couldn't keep performing our in-class play.

And then there was lunch.

"BEE! Ah-h!" Sand was yelling and Flower was jumping up and down, waving her arms. She, Quill, and Yin had gotten their lunch period moved to ours.

I looked at Flower's outfit. It was as… interesting as expected. It was a white, anime-esque, tutu-skirted dress with a hot pink and lime green jacket, bright red tights, blue and orange sneakers, and a white flower in her hair.

Sand, on the other hand, was wearing her "Official 'Sing' Music Video Jacket", "Na Na Na" shirt, jeans, and Vans.

I decided not to comment on it and just slid in between Sand and Quill. Flower was on Sand's left and Yin was on Quill's right. Alyssa, Miyuki (who doesn't technically live with us, although it seems like it half the time), and Jasmine were sitting across from us.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii-iiiiiiiiiiiiii!" a very loud voice sang, plopping down in between Alyssa and Miyuki.

"Hi, Shirley," I said, smiling and taking a sip of my milk.

Her eyes automatically went to Sand. "Hey, Sand, have you seen the new Criminal Minds?"

I fought back a face palm and stood up so I could trade spots to the now-brainwashed MCR fangirl.

She slid into my seat and I sat back down next to Flower.

"So, how's swamp life?" I asked Miyuki and Jasmine, who were now directly in front of us.

Miyuki shrugged. "Not like much changes. But Master Huu is finally stepping up my training."

I nodded and looked at Jasmine.

She grinned. "Oh, my family's doing this big pro-recycling thing at the community center next week, and–"

"You guys have a community center?" Quill cut in.

Jasmine nodded. "Why wouldn't we?"

"You live in a–" I started. "Oh, never mind."

Yin giggled and Flower smiled. I shook my head and took a bite of chicken.

"Can I have your bread?" Flower asked, already having grabbed it off my plate.

I nodded, half paying attention.

"Hey, do you think I should draw some Charlie/Stella for Whistle?" I asked the girl with half a piece of bread in her mouth and most of the rest on the general area around her face. Most of the girls – including me – had somehow wound up watching Lemonade Mouth yesterday, and Whistle _really_ liked the ship.

Flower blinked at me, uncomprehending, realized what I was talking about, swallowed, and shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

I nodded, dug out my sticky notes and pencil from my pocket, and jotted it down.

"Hey, Smellerbee, you wanna hear about the new Criminal Minds?" Shirley asked eagerly, turning to me.

I sighed. "Fine, whatever."

You can imagine how the rest of lunch went. After that we just watched a video in history, but I was talking to The Duke and Sand most of the time. Gym was boring, as usual. And absolutely nothing happened in art.

And then I just spent and hour listening to my music and doing homework while I waited for either of the two boys who could legally drive and were under the age of 19.

(So, how much did you finish?) Longshot asked as soon as Jet stomped on the gas.

I shrugged. "Most of it. I just have a little math–" Okay, he sounded like a parent. "Wait a second, since when are you my mother?"

He rolled his eyes.

I chuckled and stuck my earbuds in, trying to ignore the rap Jet turned on, and picked up where I left off in Love (insert star here) Com volume 2.

The day wasn't as bad as I'd thought it'd be.

And, hey, there were only six weeks left until summer.


End file.
